I never raced: story of the kid that never had.....

[Toasted Coastie]

I never raced cars. Never got to play with them as a kid. Can honestly say, that because my folks couldn't afford those types of "toys", I just tuned them out. Hell, the kids accross the street from me each had a Grasshopper and would race them in the street, while I would sit there and wonder why I couldn't get one.

I used to love watching them race them. Then they would stop, charge their batteries, and "trickle charge" them so they would go faster or last longer, or whatever. The point is, those five minutes when I got to have a turn kicked ass.

I am getting what I missed out as a kid now. I can afford them now. I have a great job, did well in the market (when it was up) and was lucky to cash out when I did. And now, in this stressfull time, I find that restoring/modifying and just "playing" with these cars feel, well, good. Calming I should say. More calming than the Lexipro actually.

There are so many people here that raced these cars, and others that actually worked for the companies that made them, that have a vast amount of knowledge that has been very helpful to quite a few people here. I want to thank everyone here for that. This has been a great hobby for me. A combination of my love for cigars and tinkering with these cars has made the last few months really awesome.

So, um, thanks for letting a kid who missed out on a ton of fun in the 80's enjoy that fun in the 10's as an adult.

Ron

[kaiser]

i was one of those kids that got to race back in the day (i took 17 years off) and i think it's even more fun now.
when i was a kid i was so hung up on trying to win that i often "dnf'ed". now i understand the "slow is fast" rule and i enjoy it alot more.
the internet has really helped alot as well, just being able to find factory racer setups makes things alot easier, not too mention this fine site.

now i just can't wait for my son to get to an age where he can join in on the fun.

[dsmith]

yes, i agree.i had cars when i was a kid thanks to grandpa...i raced...some stuff i sold/traded like a dummy and some got stolen...thats why i'm in it now...i want all that stuff back that i had, and loved so much. now, i have that stuff. plus, the stuff i wanted and never got...

[Coelacanth]

That's a nice story, Coastie. I myself got into the hobby in my late teens, after my brother got a Marui Galaxy kit (still have that, too). It really opened my eyes as to what RC cars could do. My previous experience was with Radio Shack or toy store-style cars that were never "serious" cars. However, I can remember from my early childhood days, I always had a huge fascination for radio-controlled cars.

I ended up getting a Tamiya Frog for my birthday. That was the beginning of my frustrations with RC cars. It never ran too good, my brother's cheaper Galaxy, unbelievably, would outperform that Frog! Even after upgrading to a Thorp diff, I still never found love with that car, though it looked awesome with my black paintjob with lime green & electric blue stripes & blue alloy sideguards. I sold it to some younger kid who really wanted it, and never regretted it.

I loved the hobby so much that I took my first "real" job (other than washing dishes at a pizza restaurant) working in a hobby store that sold all the "good stuff"; RC cars, boats, planes; model railroad stuff, plastic models of all kinds, slot cars, kites, etc. Customers eventually came who wanted the store to build the cars for them, and we'd make $50 to build them. I built a lot of Tamiyas, including a Porsche 959, Bigwig, Falcon, Boomerang and Monster Beetle. If anything, those cars helped to show me what I DIDN'T like in an RC car...too much breakable plastic stuff. They weren't really "serious".

Then along came the object of my desire--the Kyosho Optima. Just looking at it, you saw that it was a serious, heavy-duty racing car. The lightweight ladder-style aluminum chassis was something else, I'd never seen anything like that before. I recently unearthed my $100 deposit to buy that kit, I remember it took me a while to save up!

I did some...*ahem* racing back then, if you'd call it "racing". It would be more accurate to say I provided entertainment moreso than raced. I had one particular wipeout after my 7.2V battery pack fell out during a race and a fellow racer connected a 9.6V matched pack to my car, everybody said it was the best crash they'd ever seen, as my car cartwheeled about 5 or 6 times nearly the entire length of the track. I won a concours with my eye-grabby zebra paintjob. I wasn't particularly good at racing, though.

One thing that made this expensive hobby accessible to me was we hobby store staff (most of whom were RC enthusiasts) were able to buy parts at cost + 10%.

It's great to hear a story like yours, Coastie, and how you've joined us after all these years. I hope you can race better than I.

[lpddpd]

I asked for an RC car when I was 11 for Christmas and got a 5 wheel 1 button radio shack car (looked just like KITT). After it ate the batteries in a few hours I was SOL because they weren't about to buy more. I never even knew of the existence of 'hobby grade' cars until a coworker offered to trade a RC10CE for some Shimano bike parts I pulled off my bike. Best trade I ever made

[shane]

Amen, bros. Finaly could afford to buy a used hornet when I was 18.
TC, you brought back alot of memmories.

[slotcarrod]

Cool stories, thanks for sharing guys.

Back in the early 80's, I was lucky enough that my Dad purchased a dirt bike (1980 air cooled KX80) for me. The late 70's were not kind to my family and my Dad could barely afford shoes for his 4 kids, It was tough not having toys or new clothes for school. So I think when things got better, he wanted to make up for the hard times of the past and buy us all cool things. That's why I got into bikes.

Some of my friends had Tamiya RC cars, and they said I should come and race with them. I thought I had better things to do than play with toy cars, like ride my bike on the trails! Although that was fun, how foolish I was!

It was just a bit later on, that another good friend (with a very rich Dad) gave me a box of RC cars, in parts. It had a Frog and an early RC10 in it. All in pieces with no instructions. When I was younger, I did the Lego thing and built many a plastic model. I also did my own maintenance on the KX, so I understood how things should go together, for the most part.

I spent many an afternoon putting parts on and figuring out how the Frog went together. The Frog looked like it was going to be the easiest to get going. When I finally got it up and running, I was hooked. You could not wipe that smile off my face. I then moved onto the RC10, after many nights piecing that together, I got it running and quickly realised that this is the stuff! I have not stopped since that day. How foolish I was to snub my friends that invited me to race "toy" cars! I looked like a fool when I came back to them, hat in hand! I'm so glad I did though!

[tamiyadan]

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[Toasted Coastie]

I really enjoy how this thread turned out. Keep the stories coming!

[Seabass]

I got one for you.

I was in the 6th grade and dreamed everyday looking through the Tower Hobby catalogue we got in the mail one day. I looked through that thing so much i ruined the pages. I really wanted a Grasshopper. I asked and asked. One day my dad showed up with a used Kyosho Assault. I drove the car a couple times (when we could get it started). It was a total pain in the ass to the point I hated the car.

I continued asking for an electric but the parents said you already have one. It came to the point where I would save every penny I earned for allowance towards buying my own electric/car combo. It killed me saving the money and every week I would put the money in the jar and go back to that catalogue to dream some more.

After close to 7 months of saving, I finally had enough to get a Kyosho Raider. Ordered it UPS, COD. i can even remember the day the car was to be delivered the driver didn't make it to the house, I was soooo dissapointed.

The next day came and that awesome package was waiting for me. I built the car by myself and was drving it around that night. I drove the wheels off of that car. I ran that car for years. On day I saw the LHS was advertising a race open to all classes on TV.

I talked the parents into letting me go racing. Got there and was entered into the Tamiya class. Had a blast. The next weekend, another race was held and I showed again. I ended up being the only Tamiya class car there so I raced against JRX2s and RC10s. I didn't have a chance. This lasted for about 3 months, I was there every weekend racing the Kyosho Raider against far advanced machines.

Out of the blue my dad showed up one day with a brand new JRXT with all the bells and whistles to get it running and the rest is pretty much history.

[LTO_Dave]

I remember having a Radio Shack Golden Arrow buggy and thought it was the fastest thing ever. My brother's friend gave me a set of rear Tamiya(?) wheels with foams so I could race carpet oval, but I was too scared.

I eventually got an RC10 CE, Novak 410-M5(which I still have), Futaba Magnum(also still have), Dynamite stick pack, and TRC foams as a christmas gift in the early '90's and started racing. I remember having one "good" battery pack between my brother, his firend, and I...whomever made it to the A-main got to use it.

I was young and got a lot of hand-me-downs from my brother and his friends. I never knew some of the parts I've recently bought even existed back then.

[Bormac]

I cant remember my age but it must have been early teens. Here in Australia we had adverts on TV from a large hobby store chain called 'UNCLE PETE'S TOYS' and they were blasting promo's for the Hotshot, Frog and Hornet all the time. I would collect the mail adverts also and cut them out and put them in a scrap book I was keeping for all r/c stuff.
I had a single Mum who couldn't afford the real thing and one xmas I ended up with a black 2WD buggy from 'TANDY ELECTRONICS' which took the 8 AA batteries. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little dissappointed- LOL!
My cousin was talking all the time how he was getting a Hotshot for that same xmas but he ended up with a 'UNIMOG' 4WD truck which also took 8 AA batteries- LOL!!!
I enjoyed my little buggy as best I could but I still longed for a REAL r/c car. Calling past a local race track one Sunday my Mum pulled over and I was in awe. It must have been a huge meeting and there were soo many people and cars there I was just blown away. Something like 100 odd racers! There were soo many roll cage type buggies like Zerda's Bulldog's etc.. I was just blown away by it all.
That week I began saving my pocket money and more than 6 months later I found myself in a local hobby shop puting down a down payment for an Optima and had it put away on lay bye. It must have been another 6 months before I had saved up a total of $365 and walked out that shop with it and all the radio gear, battery and charger. Damn I got my money's worth out of that car. I ended up returning to the track and becoming a member of what was then called - 'BORMAC' - Bankstown Off Road Model Auto Club.
I raced at that track as a junior for a few years and never really took it too seriously. It was a lot of fun and that Optima was a real good car to have back then.

[Coelacanth]

That week I began saving my pocket money and more than 6 months later I found myself in a local hobby shop puting down a down payment for an Optima and had it put away on lay bye. It must have been another 6 months before I had saved up a total of $365 and walked out that shop with it and all the radio gear, battery and charger. Damn I got my money's worth out of that car.

Wow, that's amazing how similar our "First Optima" stories are!